Television cabinet and removable closure therefor



April 1955 s. JABCZENSKI 2,706,139

TELEVISION CABINET AND REMOVABLE CLOSURE THEREFOR Filed Aug. 20, 1951 INVENTOR.

STEPHEN JABCZENSKI United States Patent Ofiice 2,706,139 Patented Apr. 12, 1955 TELEVISION CABINET AND REMOVABLE CLOSURE THEREFOR Stephen Jabczeuski, St. Louis, Mo.

Application August 20, 1951, Serial No. 242,666

1 Claim. (Cl. 312-7) This invention relates in general to certain new and useful improvements in television cabinets and, more partic'ularly, to a television cabinet having a removable protective glass screen across the opening through which the picture tube may be viewed.

It is the primary object of the present invention to provide a television cabinet having a removable glass screen disposed in front of the picture tube so that both the glass screen and the picture tube may be readily accessible for purposes of cleaning and maintenance.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a television cabinet of the type stated which is attractive in appearance and economical in cost of construction as compared with conventional television cabinets.

With the above and other objects in view, my invention resides in the novel features of form, construction arrangement, and combination of parts presently described and pointed out in the claim.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure l is a perspective view of a television cabinet constructed in accordance with and embodying the present invention;

Figures 2 and 3 are fragmentary sectional views taken along lines 2-2 and 33, respectively, of Figure 1;

Figure 4 is a fragmentary perspective view of a modified form of television cabinet constructed in accordance with and embodying the present invention; and

Figure 5 is a fragmentary sectional view taken along line 55 of Figure 4.

Referring now in more detail and by reference characters to the drawings, which illustrate practical embodiments of the present invention, A designates a television cabinet having a front wall 1 and a top wall 2. The front wall 1 is conventionally provided with a series of control knobs 3 and a rectangular opening 4 through which the so-called picture tube T may be viewed.

The top wall 2 is provided, adjacent its forward transverse margin, with an elongated slot 5 opening downwardly upon the upper horizontal margin of the viewopening 4. The other three margins of the view-opening 4 are recessed to provide a channel or groove 6 provided upon its interior faces with a U-shaped channel of felt stripping 7. The slot 5 is similarly provided, upon its interior faces, with a felt facing 8 which matches the felt channel 7, so that the entire interior surfaces of the slot 5 and channel 6 are felt covered. It will, of course, be understood in this connection that any other similar material, such as rubber, sponge-rubber, or pile-fabric, for instance, may be used instead of felt.

Slidably disposed through the slot 5 and marginally encased snugly within the felt lined channel 6 is a heavy plate glass panel or protective screen 9 which projects upwardly at its upper end beyond the upper margin of the slot 5 and is snugly set into a transversely extending top bar 10, being held therein by a plurality of double headed, flush studs 11. The top bar 10 extends at its opposite ends beyond the side margins of the glass panel 9 so as to completely close or cover the upper edges of the slot 5 and is centrally provided with an upstanding handle button 12.

In use, the protective panel 9 will extend closurewise across the view-opening 4, being securely and snugly held around its entire periphery by the felt channel 6 and felt facing 8. This tight peripheral engagement of the glass panel 9 serves the double purpose of preventing dust or moisture from entering into the interior of the television cabinet A and settling upon the screen-face of the television tube T and also preventing any rattling or vibration of the glass panel 9 responsive to the mechanical vibrations set up by the sound producing system of the television set. As is well understood, most television sets are open toward the rear and the cabinets are fairly well ventilated because the electronic tubes, transformers, condensers, and other component elements generate a substantial amount of heat. Consequently, air travels through the interior of the cabinet carrying with it household dust, lint, and other foreign substances which tend to settle upon the component parts of the television set. For this reason, the dust proof seal between the marginal portions of the glass panel 9 and the felt channel 7 is of secondary importance although it has been found that where the glass panel 9 is not sealed in place dust and lint tend to enter the cabinet from the front by virtue of a current of air which is set up and travels through the cabinet, thereby tending to deposit an excessive amount of dust and lint upon the viewing surfaces of the television tube T, but by snugly encasing the marginal portions of the glass panel 9-in felt, as above described, this tendency is obviated. On the other hand, by normal rearward ventilation of the cabinet A a certain amount of lint, dust, and foreign particles, will, in time, settle upon the viewing face or surface of the television tube T and impair the clarity of the picture or produce vision disturbing specks and spots in the picture. Similar particles of dust and lint also settle upon the inwardly presented surface of the glass panel 9. Of course, the dirt, dust, childrens finger marks, and the like, which accumulate on the forwardly presented face of the glass panel 9 can always be cleaned olr readily even in conventional television sets, but with the television cabinet A, constructed in accordance with the present invention, the glass panel 9 may be readily slid upwardly out of closure-forming position across the view-opening 4 and the interior, as well as exterior surfaces thereof, cleaned and polished, while the glass panel 9 is cleaned. At the present time, most manufacturers consider the television tube to be a rather expensive delicate instrumentality but, nevertheless, have installed such tubes in a manner requiring an extensive amount of disassembling of the television set itself in order to remove the picture tube for cleaning. With the present invention, cleaning of the picture tube and interior surfaces of the protective glass panel 9 become very simple operations and an expensive service call for that purpose becomes unnecessary.

If desired, it is possible to provide a modified form of television cabinet A, also constructed in accordance with the present invention, and similarly having a front wall 1 also provided with a rectangular view-opening 4'. Interiorly, the view-opening 4 is somewhat reduced in size and is provided with a continuous peripheral ledge 13 having a continuous felt facing 14 upon its forwardly presented faces. Swingably mounted by means of a so-called piano-hinge 15, within the view-opening 4', is a snugfitting rectangular frame 16 interiorly channeled for tightly engaging the peripheral portion of a heavy glass panel 17 which extends closurewise across the frame 16. Set into the face of the view-opening 4, on the opposite side thereof with respect to the piano-hinge 15, is a conventional spring-pressed ball-detent 18 adapted for engagement with the frame 16 so as to hold the latter snugly in place, as shown in Figure 5. The frame 16 is finally provided with a conventional pull-handle 19 by which it may be swung outwardly to permit access to the interior face of the glass panel 17 and the forwardly presented viewing surface of the television tube T conventionally mounted within the cabinet A.

It should be understood that changes and modifications in the form, construction, arrangement, and combination of the several parts of the television cabinet may be made and substituted for those herein shown and described without departing from the nature and principle of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

A television cabinet including a horizontal top wall and a vertical front Wall, said front wall being provided with a rectangular opening having upper and lower horizontal margins and spaced parallel vertical margins, said top wall being provided with a horizontal slot extending vertically downwardly therethrough and opening upon the upper horizontal margin of the rectangular opening, said slot being of greater length than the length of said upper horizontal margin and projecting equidistantly at its ends beyond said vertical margins, said rectangular opening further being provided along its vertical margins with vertical grooves opening at their upper ends to the hori zontal slot, said rectangular opening further being provided along its lower horizontal margin with a horizontal groove opening at its ends into the vertical grooves, a glass panel disposed closurewise across said rectangular opening and being marginally engaged within said grooves, said glass panel further projecting upwardly through and beyond said horizontal slot when in closure forming position, and a top bar having a downwardly presented flat underface and a length and width substantially greater than the horizontal slot in the top wall of the cabinet, said bar being provided in its underface with an upwardly extending elongated rectilinear recess sized for snugly receiving the upwardly projecting portion of the glass panel, said glass panel being snugly secured in said recess so as to be suspended from the top bar when the top bar is manually lifted upwardly, said glass panel and top bar in their combined relation being of such size that when the glass panel is in closure forming position, its bottom margin will rest snugly within the horizontal groove along the lower margin of the rectangular opening and the underface of the top bar will rest upon the upper face of the cabinet entirely around the horizontal slot thereof so as to close and conceal said slot.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 672,693 Bank Apr. 23, 1901 934,526 Heusser Sept. 21, 1909 990,810 Grashin Apr. 25, 1911 1,115,820 Hofman Nov. 3, 1914 1,186,642 Alamy June 13, 1916 1,614,319 Schmidt Jan. 11, 1927 1,788,905 Barnes Jan. 31, 1931 2,438,022 Rundle Mar. 16, 1948 2,470,620 Jackson May 17, 1949 2,543,146 Bace Feb. 27, 1951 2,596,710 Moricco May 13, 1952 

